TheocracyWatch is a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) at Cornell University. CRESP is a nonsectarian, action-based educational organization with its roots in religious dialogue, human rights advocacy, and ethical thought.

TheocracyWatch raises awareness about the pervasive role of the Religious Right in the U.S. government. It disseminates information through its speakers bureau, powerpoint presentations, CDs -- both audio and powerpoint -- and DVDs. It also conducts interviews with the media.

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

Christian Reconstructionists Are Trying to Take Dominion in America - and They Have Powerful Friends By Jeremy Leaming
Church and State

Monday 02 July 2007

A recent conference held by American Vision, a radical ministry that toils away to "help Christians build a truly Biblical worldview," displayed the growing organization of the dangerous Reconstructionist movement.

Turns the stomach to read, but it is important to know what is waiting for us...what wants to take over and how deserving they feel to do so.

The event was promoted heavily by the Rev. Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, and it was held in a facility owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest non-Catholic denomination and a religious body closely aligned with the Bush administration.

In an opening prayer, American Vision President Gary DeMar set the stage for what would be a major theme running through the gathering: restoring the sovereignty of God and God's people - namely, folks like those at the conference.

"We know," said DeMar, "that you are a sovereign and omniscient God.... We know that you have called us to be responsible servants in the advancement of your kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel and the application of your word in every area of life."

Worldview speaker after speaker vacillated between decrying the nation as wildly secular and ready for a radical makeover led by fundamentalist Christians.

One of the first speakers, Gary Cass, offered a dire picture of a country that is doomed unless it embraces a rigid form of government led by fundamentalist Christian edicts.

"We need a new American vision," said Cass, former head of TV preacher D. James Kennedy's now-defunct Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, "because we've lost our biblical heritage, our Christian birthright, which has been given to us by our founders, we have squandered for a poisonous bowl of atheistic humanism and political correctness.

"And now our culture is experiencing its deadly effects," he continued. "The putrid stench of the culture of death fills our living rooms, coming to us every night on the evening news. And this Worldview weekend, I believe, is the antidote for the culture of death."

He continued, "By God's grace you are here to reclaim our godly heritage and to reassert, without apology to the atheists and the neo-pagans of our day, that this was and is a Christian nation, built on Christian ideals."

Cass's stark call for a fundamentalist Christian takeover of America was later followed by claims that the nation is increasingly hostile to religious people. To some chuckles from the audience, he insisted that the United States is in "great need of a Christian anti-defamation league."

"Defamation," Cass argued, "is the precursor to persecution." Defamation leads to marginalization, he continued, and marginalization sets the "stage for discrimination," which inevitably leads to the final stage of religious cleansing.

"Genocide being the ultimate expression," Cass declared, "the deliberate, systematic extermination of a group of people." Kind of like what is happening in Sudan's Darfur region, he added.

Other speakers brutally attacked the public school system and promoted home schooling and private Christian education. The Ridgecrest bookstore was full of materials offering curriculums for parents interested in escaping the public schools.

On the conference's first day, attendees gathered in Ridgecrest's Spilman Auditorium were treated to a lengthy rant against public schools by a Baptist preacher from Texas.

The Rev. Voddie Baucham Jr., pastor at Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring, Texas and founder of Voddie Baucham ministries, is indignant that so many "blood-washed" Christians choose to send their children to public schools. He boasted about his involvement in pushing a resolution before the Southern Baptists' annual convention that calls on church members to yank their kids from public schools.

"If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans," Baucham said.

Baucham encouraged the gathering to do what his family does, which is to keep children at home and immerse them in religiosity. The towering pastor - virtually the only African-American at the conference - noted that his son Trey travels with him full time.

"Trey travels everywhere with me," he said. "Trey is 14 years old; I am his teacher. When our sons reach the age of 13, they go through a rite of passage; they enter into manhood. And when they enter into manhood, their mother closes up the books and hands them to me."

Wouldn't you like to know what that "rite of passage" is? Probably something sexual and most likely against the law of the land, such as it is for people like this.

Ridgecrest is a very large Baptist "retreat." I once attended a weekend conference there when I was still a believer. It's quite impressive as those kinds of places go, and I'm not surprised that these extremist Christians really believe fervently what they're saying. They're nuts...and they're very dangerous in more ways than one. Before Bush became president they were viewed more as cultists, although they were and are tolerated by other, less radical Christians, kind of like snake handlers are. Now, they're Christian "soldiers" who want a piece of that powerful political pie.

They're scary, they're dangerous, and they're very extreme, just like the present POTUS and VPOTUS. Islamic extremists have absolutely nothing on these people.

(See dori's link for the quote).

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

...and they're in my backyard, too, dori. Ridgecrest is "just up the road," as my mother used to say...actually about two to three hours from my home, but a world away as far as my understanding their religious stances.

It just occurred to me that our own garagejazz lives/works in that area. Wonder if he could comment on this event...haven't heard from him in a long, long time. Maybe we ought to give him a heads up!

_________________

"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

sounds like a different sect from the one at the church i'm now attending.

it's interesting to see how differnt groups/operatives will jump onto a particular belief in THIER interperation of the teachings of christ in which in most cases they take certain points of scripture completely out of the whole context of gods holy word and use it to further thier own agenda.

kinda like what we see with the idiot right wing base/moral majority of the gop. but time after time we have seen how thier hypocrisy is exposed for the garbage that it is when the light of truth begins to shine through.

it would seem to me that most christians who are ACTUALLY true to thier faith would be able to easily see much of what is described above in the previous posts in this thread but sadly and unfortunately that is not the case in todays time period.

the separation of church and state is/was shrewdly designed by our forefathers to protect our right to worship or not as we see fit. what the sheeple/koolaid drinkers don't realize is that satan himself is pushing for a form of state/national/global form of required worship that at 1st glance will APPEAR to be the answer to all of the worlds problems. after he suckers most people into the total deception he'll run the knife into thier backs just like he's intended to do all along.

most of todays theocratic wannbes are unknowingly enablers/faciltators that are unwittingly helping to further an agenda of destruction and deception that when finally realized will be utterly too late.

we are seeing that right here in this nation.

which btw, is NOT a christian nation by any words that fit into christs TOTAL defintion.

if your gonna quote scripture to me you better back it up with the whole truth NOT just the parts that furthers YOUR agenda.

1. Where did I quote scripture?
2. Interesting how you jumped on Baptist and ignored the others.
3. When mentioning Baptist, I also mentioned that there were MANY different Baptist religions.
4. I am a reformed Baptist.
5. I never argued the separation of church and state.
6. I already said that the group of people in the article were scary.
7. I hold my faith very close to me and what I see with the evangelical groups that spout off there garbage on TV trying to make people think that is how ALL Christians are makes me sick.
8. I never claimed that America was a Christian nation.

Don't let it get to you too much Mrs. Hoppes. You are correct in all of your counter points.

BTW, I went over to your site and I can happily say that I really enjoyed what I have read so far.

A lot of people talk about leaving the "rat race" and living the simple life thinking that simple life means easy. Your blog should put that myth to rest.

You and your family have guts and for this you have my respect, for what its worth.

I am glad that you responded the way you did because it shows dignity.

I read what you wrote again and I notice that you listed more than just one religion and just pointed out a truth.

Mrs. Hoppes wrote:

Quote:

Just for clarity sake, the "rite of passage" at the age of 13 is common among many religions.

In the Jewish religion, it is called a Bar mitzvah. The Catholics call it Confirmation. Among different Baptist religions (and there are MANY) that is the typical age of baptism.

So while these people may be scary (even according to my standards) don't automatically assume that "rite of passage" means something sinister.

Seem's pretty simple to me. There is no need to ASSUME that rite of passage means something sinister. There are some people who will USE this for something sinister, but if you think about it, there are people who will use anything they can get their hands on for something sinister.

I have seen nothing in what you wrote that deserves the response you got.

CrimsonEagle

_________________CrimsonEagleThe war to end all wars can only be fought on the front-lines of the mind.

The greatest deception they have perpetrated is that we need them. Our greatest mistake is that we believe them.

rooster was simply responding to the fact that Ridgecrest is a Baptist retreat. There's no doubt about that. The people who were using that site for their extremist gathering are just that...EXTREMISTS and the Baptist center allowed them to gather there. Would they have allowed Islamic extremists to gather on their site? It's doubtful, although I do not know. Whether or not the Ridgecrest facility and its managers knew of and approved of the extremist meeting and its content, I do not know, either. One would think they would scrutinize those who use their site more carefully, but again, who knows? Who cares? WHERE this extremist group gathered is really a moot point. They gathered and they got to give their "hale and hearty fellows, Well-met" extremist views to those who hold the same view. Maybe they made a few converts. Maybe they lost a few...again, who can tell? They probably paid Ridgecrest a HELL of a lot of money...and there is the bottom line...MONEY.

Here is what Ridgecrest says about itself:

Quote:

Ridgecrest is a year-round conference and retreat facility owned by the Southern Baptist Convention. However, Ridgecrest host many other denominations and non-profit groups each year. We can house over 1,000 guests on campus, and our facilities include a 2,200 seat auditotium, over 75 conference rooms, a large dining facility, a LifeWay Bookstore, nature trails, a recreation area with gymnasium, tennis courts, putt-putt, ball fields, and more.Ridgecrest Vision Statement: "We will help people discover Biblical solutions for life by hosting, conducting, and delivering conferences and events that transform individuals and cultures."

TRANSFORM? Wow! Now there's a word for you! "TRANSFORM individuals and cultures"...I guess that's the part that got the approval from the Ridgecrest board of directors or whatever entity allowed these religious extremists access to those hallowed grounds.

Yep. TRANSFORM INDIVIDUALS and CULTURES: Right up the Ridgecrest and FUNDIE Alley!

Quote:

Worldview speaker after speaker vacillated between decrying the nation as wildly secular and ready for a radical makeover led by fundamentalist Christians.

One of the first speakers, Gary Cass, offered a dire picture of a country that is doomed unless it embraces a rigid form of government led by fundamentalist Christian edicts.

"We need a new American vision," said Cass, former head of TV preacher D. James Kennedy's now-defunct Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, "because we've lost our biblical heritage, our Christian birthright, which has been given to us by our founders, we have squandered for a poisonous bowl of atheistic humanism and political correctness

There are extremists in every religion. There are extremists who are atheists. There are extremists who simply want everyone to believe as they do and... THAT'S THE PART I DESPISE.